Heinrich Himmler received Erich into his office in a slightly polite manner. They shook hands and then the SS boss gestured him to a chair. Erich sat down, watching Himmler with the corner of an eye in silence as he moved around his desk and sat comfortably behind it.
“My honorable cousin’s little boy must be aware of the growing complaints from the party hierarchy about his lack of discipline, breach of party regulations and half-hearted adherence to the driving ideology of the fatherland,” Himmler began.
Erich nodded but did not utter a word.
“Your wife’s Jewish origin is an embarrassment to the party, a total embarrassment to me.”
“She is German,” Erich retorted. “Her maternal grandmother’s Jewish roots shouldn’t be a source of concern.”
“Your arrogance towards authority is something I find intolerable.”
“Maybe I should reiterate my position. I am prepared to resign my position if you and your friends don’t stop fussing about her.”
“Damn you for thinking in such unpatriotic terms, Erich! Damn you and the damn kike. Your doggedness amazes me. It seems to get worse as you get older. Do I have to sing it to your ears that the fatherland is going through trying moments in its history as it reasserts its dominant position in the world? Tell me, Erich! What about your commitment to the greater glory of Germany? What are your ambitions for the lands seized from us and given to the Poles, the Danes, and the French?”
“I have never wavered in my loyalty to the fatherland,” Erich intoned.
“Good, good, good!” Himmler articulated, and then hit his palm with his right fist. “That’s exactly what I expect to hear from a patriotic German.”
“I said the fatherland,” Erich reiterated.
Himmler got up abruptly and started pacing his office, his face contorted with a determination that Erich found intriguing. “Don’t get me wrong, Erich! I understand where you are coming from. The fatherland is the concern of all patriotic Germans. But the military and the SS, in particular, have a special task to restore the greatness of our fatherland as a totally, completely united Reich. Yes, Erich, the Reich will be restored as a powerful and single German block that has all its children within its borders. We shall sign a pact with the Soviet hordes to silence their opposition to our drive to regain the lands we lost to the Poles. Stalin will be given the eastern portions of Poland while we get the important western portion.”
“Hei!” Erich exclaimed, but didn’t go any further than that.
“You see! This is the moment for you to show your true patriotism to the fatherland and loyalty to the greatest political movement that has ever led Germany. Ours is the only party that can restore the honor and dignity of the German people by making Germany the leader of the world again. Get rid of that Jewish woman and your rise to the top would be assured. You shall find yourself in the ranks of the new makers of a greater Germany. Your father wants to be proud of you. Your family wishes this rise for you.”
Erich laughed meekly, never taking his eyes off Himmler.
Himmler sighed in exasperation and even kicked his boots. “Let me be candid with you, Erich! There is no future for her people in this country. Very soon, you will find yourself compromised by circumstances that will leave you helpless as her husband. Get rid of her now before it is too late.”
Erich regarded him with a mocking smile. “You made me drive all the way to Munich to listen to this? You brought me here to tell me to get rid of my wife, the woman I took my vows with, just to prove my allegiance to the party?”
“It is for your own good.”
“Hei!” Erich exclaimed again. “Now, what was I about to say? I grew up respecting you, my dear uncle. But you just saddened me with your demands. Perhaps you don’t know how warm-hearted Rosa is. She has given so much to our relationship. She accepted my son when you and I know that my own mother would have a hard time accepting Olga. Rosa has been there for me as the source of my joy and inspiration all these years. I think I should appreciate her for that. You want me to get rid of her to show my loyalty to the party?”
“It is the little we are asking you to do.”
“Would I be humane if I do that? We are about to lead the German people to their final triumph, you just told me. What type of triumph would that be? Are we going to get there by destroying our sense of humanity, and then infest other lands with our processed nature? I am going to be blunt with you about this. Rosa and I are indispensable to one another.”
Himmler watched his second cousin with restrained contempt, letting the rising tension subside before he spoke again. “You might not know this, but Der Führer is unaware of your case. He doesn’t know that you are having a Jewish wife or that any member of the SS has one. The few who had partners with weird blood ties dissociated themselves from the aliens in accordance with the clean-up campaign. And there is something else you need to know. Your stay and rise in the force have been because of me.”
“Why are you downplaying my abilities?” Erich said.
“Your abilities? They mean nothing if they are not based on loyalty. You spew recalcitrance, Erich. We are not going to stand by and watch the contamination of the master race by kike blood or by the blood of Gypsies and other sub humans. Look at yourself, Erich! You embody the best of everything Aryan. You are Prussian like your father, his father, his grandfather and their progenitors. Those great men fought against several odds to keep their blood Aryan. They did so while in the midst of primitive Slavs and swarthy Magyars. And after all the effort of past generations, here you are, standing in front of me, determined to disrupt that Aryan lineage at a time that the greatest party in the world has pledged to enhance our Aryan purity.”
Erich sat up in his seat and regarded his boss and second cousin with moist and penetrating eyes. “I won’t recount Rosa’s values as a wife any further. I am her husband and that’s what counts.”
“You are infuriating,” Himmler muttered, barely above a whisper.
“I guess I sound infuriating to you because I am being objective. Take this as a promise from me. I shall be unforgiving if I lose Rosa because of the manipulation of unscrupulous men like you. I won’t call this a threat, but let me be candid about this. We are a family, a close family in accordance with our tradition.”
“And the party?” Himmler said, staring at Erich with a contemptuous look on his face.
“Yes! We are loyal Nazis and we have committed ourselves to lead Germany. We are patriotic Germans in the tradition of our fathers. However, what matters the most are the families we create and nurture for Germany because their success gives our party and country a solid base. The family is the most important unit in a society. Destroy it and you infect society in a profound manner. You jealously guard and guide your family, don’t you? Human nature is protective over its own blood. If you destroy mine, you destroy not only my loyalty to the great party, but you also put to question the strength of my patriotism. It won’t be to the interest of Germany for something like that to happen.”
Himmler looked horrified beyond endurance and fixed his yes on Erich, who flinched a little from the increasing redness of Himmler’s face and the malevolent glint in his eyes.
“You are truly infuriating,” Himmler raged, “It is our duty in the SS to be exemplary in our actions and in our commitment to the fatherland. My men have had their lineages traced back to two hundred years and even more. There isn’t a single person in the force who inherited foreign blood during those long years. Their pedigree line of descent is the strength of the SS. Our objective is to make Germany pure, make the Germans completely Aryan. We are the task force that has been created to achieve that goal, and you are a member of that task force. This divine-ordained force wouldn’t tolerate renegades within its ranks. It is about time this gets to the attention of Der Führer.”
“I am okay with that.”
“That’s not all about it. I’m warning you again. Very soon, you will find yourself confronted by decisions that you will have no influence over.”
Erich smiled faintly. “Our task force!” he said. “With Reinhard Heydrich having kike blood?”
“Get out!” Himmler gritted.
Erich rose. “I have been thinking. It is not a bad idea to leave Germany after all. Hard-working, honest and patriotic Germans have already done so,” he said, looked about the room and added. “This is a nice spot you have here. Is it true the other den in Berlin is more splendid? As a matter of fact, the people you are striving so hard to eliminate contributed too in building this.”
“Get out,” Himmler ordered the second time, barely able to contain his fury.
When Erich saw the perspiration on Himmler’s forehead and the frothy little beads of spittle on the corners of his mouth, he knew he had to bide his time. He initiated a quick salute, left the room and the building, and then hurried to the car with nervous steps. He beat the chauffeur to the door, and then opened it himself. Then he got inside and ordered him to drive away.
Erich was alone with his thoughts as he savored the growing feeling of rebelliousness pervading his body. A smile appeared on his face as he acknowledged the fact that it was just the beginning of his fight with his party. And as was his nature, he was determined to win.
He hardly noticed anything outside when they drove over the bridge to the open country, and he had no recollection of the last buildings of Munich fading away behind the fast moving car.
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